Strong start for South Side

South Side's Michaela Lynch, center, avoids Baldwin's Kelsey Cohen, right, and Olivia Dominique during a 15-5 victory on April 3.

Kathy Leistner/Herald

By Tony Bellissimo

Senior midfielder Michaela Lynch scored with four minutes remaining, won the ensuing faceoff, and South Side burned the rest of the clock to secure an 11-10 Conference II girls’ lacrosse victory at Lynbrook last Friday. It was the fifth goal of the game for Lynch, who also added three assists.

“It really could’ve gone either way,” coach Meaghan Healey said after the Lady Cyclones improved to 2-0 in conference play and 4-1 overall. “We just stuck with it and found a way to win.”

Junior midfielder Hannah Serling added four goals, while the Lady Owls got five goals and one assist from senior Julia Sarnataro, and two goals and two assists from junior Chandley Borges. Lynbrook (2-3), which got 12 saves from junior goaltender Sarah Chyriwski, suffered its third one-goal defeat in five games.

“We’ve played some of the best teams in the conference,” Lady Owls coach Vincent Tetro said. “South Side has a great program. We’re a young team, and it’s encouraging we’ve played everyone tough.”

Healey said there was no plan to maintain possession throughout the final four minutes, but the Lady Cyclones took what the defense gave them and killed the clock. Senior Liz Hoeffner and junior Juliana Pellegrini chipped in a goal apiece.

It was the fourth time in five games South Side reached double digits in goals. A good chunk of the offense is coming from a midfield led by captains Lynch, an All-County performer headed to George Washington, and Hoeffner, an All-Conference selection bound for Binghamton, as well as Serling, also an All-Conference honoree.

Lynch, who last spring tallied 51 goals and 40 assists, is off to a huge start with 20 goals and 16 assists through five games. “With her skill and speed, she has the ability to dominate,” Healey said. “She’s such a great playmaker and when the defense converges, she’ll just find someone who’s open.”

Hoeffner, who registered nine points (five goals, four assists) in a 15-5 victory over visiting Baldwin in the conference opener April 3, is a powerful two-way player who owns one of the strongest shots on the team. She’s scored in each of the first five games and has 10 goals. Serling, who has 12 goals, creates a lot of her own scoring opportunities and is an accurate shooter. Juniors Katie Ford and Allie Ford also work out of the midfield and help lead the team’s transition game by creating takeaways.

On attack, the Lady Cyclones feature juniors Maggie Cifarelli and Briar Rose DeTomasso, and sophomore Tessa Considine. “They work very well together and trust each other,” Healey noted.

Defensively, senior Michaela Beck is the lone returning starter and anchor of a group that includes talented sophomore Anna LePetri. In goal, junior Julie Flanagan and sophomore Alyssa Knab are splitting time.

After reaching the Nassau Class B semifinals a year ago, Healey said finishing atop Conference II is a goal. “We’d like to win the conference and go as far as we can in the playoffs,” she said.

Sid Tanenbaum, who lived in Woodmere and owned a metal-stamping shop in Far Rockaway, where he was known more for his charitable ways than his two-handed set shot, has been honored for the past 30 years with a basketball tournament that raises scholarship money for students in the Five Towns.